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Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outPakistan began their preparations for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa in spectacular fashion by beating Uganda by 148 runs in the first match of the Twenty20 Quadrangular in Nairobi. Shahid Afridi’s blistering 57 off 15 balls propelled Pakistan to 226, a target that proved too great for Uganda as they were restricted to 78 for 7.Afridi hit seven sixes and three fours and helped blast 82 runs off only 26 deliveries with Salman Butt for the fourth wicket as Shoaib Malik’s decision to bat first paid dividends. Though Pakistan lost Imran Nazir in the first over, Butt and Kamran Akmal, who was promoted up the order, kept the run-rate at around nine per over as they raced to fifty in the fifth over. They added 70 before Akmal was bowled for 31.Younis Khan, returning to the Pakistan side for the first time since the World Cup, added 67 with Butt as the two struck fours and sixes in every over. The arrival of Afridi at the crease plunged the already demoralised Ugandan bowlers into despair. Emmanuel Isaneez went for 34 runs in one over as Afridi clouted him for five sixes and a four. Uganda’s situation was made worse when Lawrence Sematimba dropped Butt on 55. Joel Olwenyi, a right-arm medium-fast bowler, managed the best economy-rate of 8.50.Pakistan’s bowlers, however, were unable to bowl out Uganda despite having pinned them down at 46 for 5 after 12 overs. Umar Gul was their best bowler with 2 for 10 off three overs and only three out of eight Uganda batsmen reached double figures. Raymond Otim top scored with an unbeaten 27 off 29 balls.Uganda face Kenya while Pakistan meet Bangladesh on Sunday.

Scotland have received a cash injection of £317,000 from Sportscotland, the national agency for sport, to help with coaching, youth cricket and club development.”Cricket in Scotland continues to progress in all areas,” Roddy Smith, Cricket Scotland’s chief executive, said. “The support of Sportscotland is invaluable in assisting us to put the structures and programmes in place to drive our game forward.”Patricia Ferguson, the Sports Minister, announced the funding – of which £144,000 comes from the National Lottery – at an Easter cricket academy in Edinburgh”Cricket has a long history in Scotland and this investment will help to ensure the sport has a bright future,” she said. “Funding will help to develop the youth game and support clubs as they promote cricket at a local level as well as providing a boost for the Scottish team as they prepare for the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.”Scotland were due to face Australia during their tour of England last year but, rather predictably, rain washed out the day. They will hope for a better forecast when they face Pakistan in a one-dayer this year on June 27 at Edinburgh.

According to Tapan Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s Sports Advisor, the national cricket board will be restructured once a new chairman is named. Recent reports indicated that the Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB’s) next president, whose identity is yet to be confirmed, will be announced upon his arrival in the capital next week.In regards to these reports, former BCB general secretary Syed Ashraful Haq told ,”It is no magic figure, but the number of members would be between nine to 13. I have asked him to keep it to around ten, as it is with the International Cricket Council or Asian Cricket Council but it is up to him.”He did not comment on who the new BCB boss would be.Haq, also the ACC chief executive, recently came to Dhaka for a meeting with Chowdhury. “We only talked about cricket. I told him about my ideas and how I see the board evolving into a more professional and a lot more accountable body,” he said. “There should be people who will not be holding honorary posts rather there should be people who will be paid for their job. That is what we basically talked about.”According to Haq, Chowdhury preferred 12 to 13 members on the new committee. “I did not discuss any names with him but whoever they are, must have cricketing background, both internationally as well as in the domestic front,” he said. “I gave him my views on how it should be structured, to be more specific. It should be structured like it is in a big cricket organisation so that we can compete with them in that regard too.”Haq believed the BCB should operate around a business plan, with an executive board, but felt that it also needed to have representatives from not just Dhaka, but exterior cities and towns, such as Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet.He was also critical of the current board’s handling of domestic cricket.”In the next few years, the BCB will receive an astronomical amount of money from the ICC so it would not be wise for someone with an honorary post to handle that much because that person would not have any accountability,” he said. “A general secretary cannot exist when there is a CEO. But here, the CEO should be someone with some cricketing knowledge because he represents Bangladesh in the important ICC meetings. But for that matter, if you keep both, then I don’t think it makes any sense.”

Imran Khan, the former Pakistani captain, lashed out at the team management for shabbily treating Younis Khan ahead of the Champions Trophy in India.”If anyone had treated me as shabbily as they have Younis, I would certainly have punched a member of the team’s think-tank,” Imran wrote in his column in the . “While I certainly don’t condone his behaviour, the Pakistani team management certainly had it coming.”Younis stepped down as captain apparently over the team selection, saying he was not a “dummy skipper”. He was reinstated just a few days before the team’s departure.”He [Younis Khan] is the most selfless and accommodating cricketer to play for Pakistan, and has been shunted around for the last four years,” said Imran. “He has been so shabbily treated since his debut that it almost seems like there is a conspiracy against him.”Imran said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the team management should have involved Younis in the selection process.”In cricket, the captain always bears the brunt of a failed campaign, and it is patently unfair to Younis that he was handed over a team and told to lead it,” said Imran, captain of the 1992 World Cup-winning squad. “The management and the PCB knew that Inzamam would be banned, so they should have involved Younis in the selection process. The board has been functioning in the most arbitrary manner possible since 1999.”Imran said the Pakistani team were capable of doing well in the Champions Trophy despite Inzamam’s absence. “The only setback for Pakistan is the absence of Inzamam the batsman. He is still a positive, solid and important figure in the line-up.”Pakistan cricket has always done well despite the system and not because of it. The system sucks, but Younis Khan’s team might still do well in the Champions Trophy.”Pakistan play their first match in Jaipur on October 17 against the winners of Sri Lanka-West Indies game. The other teams in their group are South Africa and New Zealand.

Gordon Greenidge, the former opener and current chairman of the West Indies selection panel, has responded to criticism about a conflict of interest in the game’s development. Greenidge and fellow selector Andy Roberts’s roles on the board of directors for the Standford 20/20 Cup had come in for question following the recent row over the Stanford All Stars match and Pakistan tour dates.”Wherever and whenever anyone wishes to assist West Indies cricket, believe me, I will be one of the first persons to help them do so,” Greenidge told reporters. “We have been trying hard for many years for someone to come on board and financially support West Indies cricket. We have had a number of companies and persons who have vowed to assist West Indies cricket financially.”We saw recently that the Carib Beer Series was not the kind of tournament we would wish because it was reduced due to a lack of finances,” he continued. “We have a situation with the 20/20 – a shorter version of the one-day game – and a benefactor was willing to come on board.” Greenidge felt that the progress of the Stanford 20/20 organisers would not harm West Indies cricket. “I don’t think it can take it any lower now because it is low, quite low right now and it is something about which we are not pleased,” he said. “We – the legends – have all been willing to help West Indies cricket and to see that it is run in the way we would like it to run. None of us wants to bring West Indies cricket into disrepute with anyone.Last month, Clive Lloyd resigned from his position as chairman of the Stanford 20/20 Cup board citing concerns over how the future of the tournament affects West Indies cricket. Greenidge, however, remained unfazed about his role. “I don’t feel my situation, being on the Stanford board, and being chairman of selectors which I did not know I was going to be is difficult. Do you wish me to relinquish one and take up the other?” he said. “Until the West Indies Cricket Board says it does not wish for me to be a selector or chairman of selectors, or the Stanford board says it is going to dissolve I will remain in this position.”

Mickey Arthur will replace Ray Jennings as South Africa’s coach. Arthur, currently in charge of Eastern Cape, will take over on a two-year deal that will take him up to the end of the 2007 World Cup.”After various recommendations Mickey was appointed and we have endorsed the process,” said Gerald Majola, the chief executive of the United Cricket Board of South Africa at a press conference in Johannesburg. The announcement brought to an end an eventful six-month tenure for Jennings, whose final contributions to South Africa’s cause were the recent 2-0 Test win and a 5-0 one-day whitewash against West Indies.Jennings, a former South African wicketkeeper during the apartheid era, took over the role from Eric Simons on a stop-gap basis at the end of a disastrous tour of Sri Lanka last October. It was not an easy baptism for Jennings – his first Test series in charge was a 1-0 defeat in India, a result followed by the 2-1 reverse at home against England. It was South Africa’s first home defeat against England in 40 years, and Jennings’s controversial coaching methods attracted adverse attention especially after they left his captain, Graeme Smith, with concussion after an accident in a warm-up session at The Wanderers.But slowly but surely he began to galvanise his team, and the results followed – a 4-1 one-day series win over England, in which he arrested a drastic run of 11 consecutive defeats against established opposition; a clean-sweep of the Zimbabweans, and then a triumphant tour of the Caribbean, at the end of which he dared the selectors to sack him.But they chose in favour of Arthur, who was picked ahead of the likes of Steve Waugh, Tom Moody and Geoff Marsh, all of whom had been linked with the job. Arthur, 37, was a first-class cricketer till four years ago and he managed 6557 runs playing for Free State, Griqualand West and South Africa A. He was in the news last month when he refused to renew the contracts of two of Eastern Cape’s most prominent players.”It’s an incredible honour and privilege and I feel that I can really step up to the breach and make a difference,” said Arthur. “I am here to create a platform and an environment for our players to perform. My long-term goal is to ultimately become the best in the world.”As for Jennings, who was unafraid to take on the team’s glamour boys, and whose preparation for the Indian tour included 4:30am wake-up calls, the association will continue as part of the elite programme to prepare players for the World Cup in 2007. Jennings will join Anton Ferreira, National Coaching Manager, and Gary Kirsten, High Performance Manager, and will undoubtedly have many inputs after an unprecedented unbeaten Caribbean campaign.Majola expressed his gratitude to Jennings, saying: “We want to thank Ray for doing the job we asked him to do as a caretaker coach, and he has agreed to remain under contract for the next stage of his activities.”We are now going to use his special talents in our High Performance Programme in preparation for the next World Cup. His experience of the West Indies conditions will be especially valuable”.

Brian Lara’s press conference
Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMAAfter the end of the fourth day’s play, Brian Lara addressed the media and defended his decision not to enforce the follow-on with the reason that his bowlers were tired. While many believed that the bold and positive decision would have been to enforce the follow-on and go for broke with a day and a session to play, Lara thought otherwise.VVS Laxman, who scored a painstaking hundred, told reporters that he was glad to have contributed to his team’s cause, and praised Anil Kumble for his role in a vital stand down the order. Cricinfo’s Siddhartha Vaidyanathan reports from St Kitts. Listen in!Download MP3 (right click and select “save target as”)
Streaming Audio: Real :: WMA

Noel Cantwell, who won fame as captain of Manchester United in the 1960s, has died at the age of 72.Cantwell led United to the FA Cup in 1963 and the league championship in 1966-67, and also played 36 times for the Republic of Ireland, scoring 14 goals. Signed by Matt Busby from West Ham for £29,500 ( a record at the time for a full back), he was touted as a possible successor to Busby, but his first managerial job was at Coventry and a highly successful tenure at Peterborough followed. Cantwell then headed west to take charge of the New England Teamen in the USA, although he finished back at Peterborough.Cantwell was also a good cricketer, playing five times for Ireland as a middle-order batsman between 1956 and 1959. His one first-class appearance was for them against Scotland at Edinburgh in 1956 when he scored 31 and 17*.

The television rights for the 2005 Afro-Asia cup have finally been confirmed this morning, with Nimbus Sports International of Singapore announced as the sole partner. A lack of interest by the front-runners ESPN/Star and Ten Sports, both of whom are otherwise committed, had dampened the appeal of the event, as had the lack of availability of leading players.In a statement released today, the chief executive of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), Syed Ashraful Huq, said: “Nimbus made a terrific offer, well in excess of any prior media speculation, to acquire the worldwide rights to the next three Afro-Asia Cups. Not only will cricket fans the world over get the opportunity to watch some spectacular cricket between the best players from Africa and Asia, young cricketers across both continents will benefit because of the funds raised by these matches.”The 2005 Afro-Asia Cup, to be hosted by South Africa, starts later this month with three one- day Internationals, the first being held at Centurion. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the ACC president and chairman of the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-operation, was delighted with the announcement: “The Afro-Asia Cup will do much to raise the funds necessary to boost activity and support for youth and junior cricket across Africa and Asia,” he said. “Our working slogan is ‘Cricket for Unity.’ Singly we are strong, together we are even stronger.”The ICC match referee appointed for the Cup is Clive Lloyd, and the umpires Steve Davis (Australia) and Billy Doctrove (West Indies) will officiate in the three games.

Skipper Parender Sharma spearheaded Haryana’s run spree on the secondday of their North Zone Ranji Trophy league match against HimachalPradesh at Mandi on Saturday. The 27-year-old right hander slammed anunbeaten 207 as he steered Haryana, who resumed at 240 for three, to atotal of 457 for five declared. In reply Himachal Pradesh were 34 forno loss at close of play.Parender Sharma and Rajesh Puri (55) took their overnight fourthwicket stand to 129 runs off 45 overs before the latter was out. Hefaced 119 balls and hit eight fours. Parender Sharma then foundanother able partner in Sanjay Dalal (61) with whom he added 168 runsfor the fifth wicket off 48 overs. At the declaration, Sharma who hadbatted 490 minutes, had faced 381 balls and hit 23 fours and a six.Rajinder Thakur took three of the wickets that fell but conceded 103runs from 36 overs in the process.Himachal openers Arun Verma (17) and Nischal Gaur (12) batted throughsafely for about an hour and 13.4 overs before bad light stopped play,47 minutes early.